Cleaner blade for scraper bowl having pivoted floor-type ejector

ABSTRACT

IN THE BOWL OF AN EARTHMOVING SCRAPER IN WHICH THE EJECTION OF THE BOWL CONTENTS IS ACCOMPLISHED BY PIVOTING THE FLOOR OF THE BOWL TOWARD A VERTICAL PLANE, A CLEANER BLADE SUPPORTED TO REST BY GRAVITY ON THE BOWL FLOOR AND RESTRAINED AGAINST MOVEMENT WITH THE FLOOR SO THAT MOVING THE FLOOR CAUSES THE BLADE TO TRANSVERSE ITS SURFACE AND THUS CLEAN THEREFROM STICKY EARTH WHICH TENDS TO ADHERE TO THE FLOOR.

Jan. 19, 1971 v. H. ERICKSQN ETAL 3,555,710

CLEANER BLADE FOR SCRAPER BOWL HAVING PIVOTED FLOOR-TYPE EJECTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 23, 1968 INVENTORS VICTOR H. ERICKSON ROY J. BARNES ERNEST W. WAGNER CLEANER BLADE FOR SCRAPER BOWL HAVING Jan. 19, 1971 v. H- ERICKSON .ETAL 3555,71

PIVO'I'ED FLOOR-TYPE EJECTOR Filed July 23, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z7 n -a I ZO INVENTORS VICTOR H. ERICKSON ROY J. BARNES ERNEST W. WAGNER 19, 1971 v. H. ERICKSON ErAL 3,555,710

CLEANER BLADE FOR SCRAPER BOWL HAVING I PIVOTED FLOOR-TYPE EJECTOR Filed July 23, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS VICTOR H. ERICKSON ROV J. BARNES ERNEST W. WAGNER 1971 v. H. ERICKSON ETAL 3,555,?!

CLEANER BLADE FOR SCRAPER BOWL HAVING PIVOTED FLOOR-TYPE EJEGTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 23 1968 INVENTORS VICTOR H. ERICKSON ROY J. BARNES ERNEST W. WAGNER United States Patent 3,555,710 CLEANER BLADE FOR SCRAPER BOWL HAVING PIVOTED FLOOR-TYPE EJECTOR Victor H. Erickson, San Mateo, and Roy J. Barnes, Pleasanton, Calif., and Ernest W. Wagner, Joliet, Ill., assignors to Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, Ill., a corporation of California Filed July 23, 1968, Ser. No. 746,789

Int. Cl. E02p 3/62 U.S. Cl. 37129 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In the bowl of an earthrnoving scraper in which the ejection of the bowl contents is accomplished by pivoting the floor of the bowl toward a vertical plane, a cleaner blade supported to rest by gravity on the bowl floor and restrained against movement with the floor so that moving the floor causes the blade to traverse its surface and thus clean therefrom sticky earth which tends to adhere to the floor.

Earthmoving scrapers are now in use in which the floor of the scraper is a pivoted platform adapted to be swung from a horizontal load sustaining position toward a vertical position in which the load of earth supported by it is dumped or discharged from the scraper bowl. Such a scraper is disclosed for example in our assignees copending application of Larry G. Eftefield et al., filed Aug. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 569,122. The scraper disclosed in said application, as well as other scrapers employing the type of ejection referred to, often experience ditficulty in ejecting a load where the material being handled is mucky or sticky. In fact, where the material is unusually bad, it is not uncommon for several tons of the material to be retained in the bowl through a discharging cycle, thus materially reducing the capacity of the bowl on the next load and reducing the over-all efiiciency of the earthmoving operation.

It is the object of the present invention to provide means in the form of a cleaner blade acting automatically upon movement of the ejector toward its ejecting position to pass over the sunface of the ejector, thus separating the sticky material therefrom and insuring its discharge from the scraper bowl. Further and more specific objects of the invention and the manner in which it is carried into practice are made apparent in the following specification wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation with parts in section of a scraper embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view across the bottom of the scraper bowl, which is also the ejector, showing the position of the cleaner blade thereon;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in section showing the position of the cleaner blade on the scraper bottom while it is in its carry position;

FIG. 4 is a view like FIG. 3 showing the relative position of the parts in the ejecting position;

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of a scraper bowl with parts in section and illustrating a modified cleaner blade arrangement; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating another modification of the invention.

FIG. 1 of the drawings shows a conventional tractor, generally indicated at 10, connected with a scraper which is supported on wheels 11 and has a bowl which comprises side walls 12, a back wall 13 and a bottom 14. Forwardly of the bowl a blade 15 is carried on a transverse blade support 16 and when the blade is lowered ice into the ground by conventional means, a material elevator generally indicated at 17 is actuated to move the earth which is cut away from the ground by the blade upwardly over the blade support 16 and into the bow The bottom 14 is pivotally supported with respect to the side walls of the bowl by upwardly extending triangular support blades 18 pivoted at 19, one with respect to each side of the bowl. A link 20 pivoted as at 21 to the bottom of the bowl is also pivoted as at 22 to the lower forwardly extending end of the lever 23 pivoted with respect to the bowl as at 24 at its upper end. A hydraulic jack 25 is shown as connected between the lever 23 and a part of the scraper frame and may be retracted by manipulation of a control valve at the tractor operators station with the aid of a conventional and wellknown hydraulic system. Retraction of the jack swings the bottom of the bowl rearwardly about its pivotal support 19 until it attains the position shown in broken lines at 14 permitting the contents of the bowl to fall downwardly through the space which the bowl bottom occupies when it is in its carry position. Since the back Wall 13 of the bowl is formed on an arc struck from the pivot point 19, any sticky material adhering to the back wall is removed by the rear edge of the bowl bottom, moving upwardly along a similar arc.

To prevent sticky material from adhering to the bottom of the bowl when it is moved to its discharge position shown at 14' in FIG. 1, the present invention provides a cleaner blade 27 best shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 supported between the free ends of a pair of support links 28 by pivot pins 29. The opposite ends of the support links 28 are pivotally connected to brackets 30 which are fixed to the forwardly disposed blade support structure 16. The cleaner bar, as best shown in FIG. 2, extends the full width of the bottom 20 and conforms thereto in shape. The cleaner bar is, therefore, supported to rest by gravity on the bottom toward the rear edge thereof when it is in its carry position as in FIGS. 1 and 3 so that it will slide over or scrape the surface of the bottom as it is moved from the FIG. 1 position to the discharge position shown in FIG. 4.

In FIG. 4, the cleaner bar has approached the forward edge of the bottom and will be returned to its normal position as the bottom is moved to its carry position. An extension 32 at the rear end of the cleaner bar engages the bottom in the position of FIG. 4 to prevent binding of the support links 28 when return movement at the bottom is initiated. The brackets, by means of whichthe cleaner blade 27 is pivoted, are limited in their swinging movement by stops best shown at 34 and 35 in FIGS. 3 and 4 but sufficient angular or swinging movement is permitted to cause the bar itself to ride flat on the bottom Surface.

A modification of the cleaner blade supporting means shown in FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 5 wherein the cleaner blade 27, which may be identical to that shown in FIG. 1, is supported on links 28' which extend upwardly and are pivotally supported by brackets 30 near the upper edge of the back wall 13. As is apparent from a disclosure of FIG. 5, upward swinging movement of the bottom 14 toward its position 14' will result in the relative sliding movement of the cleaner bar over its surface and toward its front edge.

Another modification of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 6. Two cleaner blades extend across the bottom 14 and are shown at 38 and 39 as pivotally supported at opposite ends of levers 40 which are in turn pivoted as at 41 to free ends of links 42 which correspond to the links 28 of FIG. 1 and are pivoted as at 43 to brackets on the blade support structure 16. In this case a bafile structure is shown as added to the blade support 16 and providing a cover 44 which tends toprevent dirt from lodging in the vicinity of the pivots 43. Such a baffle structure could also be used in the modification of FIG. 1. An advantage of the two cleaner blade modification shown in FIG. 6 is that the blade 38 will be disposed at the very rearmost end of the bowl floor in its carry position while the blade 39 will move to the forward edge of the floor in its dump position and a more complete coverage of the floor is obtained. The dump position of the parts is illustrated in broken lines in FIG. 6.

All modifications shown have in common that the blades rest by gravity against the surface to be cleaned and no power is required to accomplish the necessary scraping action, other than that already provided for, to move the bowl floor to its eject or dump position.

What is claimed is:

1. In an earthmoving vehicle having a bowl for receiving and carrying earth wherein a bottom portion of said bowl is defined by a non-arcuate floor member which may be moved from a substantially horizontal earth supporting position to an inclined earth releasing position, said movement being a pivoting motion of said floor member about a first axis which is transverse to said bowl and spaced from said floor member, means for scraping earth from the upper surface of substantially all portions of said non-arcuate floor member in the course of said movement thereof comprising:

a blade disposed in said bowl adjacent said upper surface of said floor member and extending transversely with respect to the direction of movement thereof for scraping said surface as said floor member is pivoted about said first axis, and

at least one arm extending longitudinally within said bowl and having said blade attached to one end thereof by first pivot means and having an opposite end fastened to said bowl by second pivot means for pivoting movement about a second axis which is spaced apart from said first axis and parallel thereto whereby said blade maintains a substantially constant position with respect to said bowl, said blade being restrained against traveling with said fioor member in the course of said movement thereof by said first pivot means, said first and second pivot means coacting to permit said blade to independently shift toward said first axis and away therefrom as necessary to maintain contact with said surface of said floor member in the course of said movement thereof, said first pivot means providing maintenance of a substantially constant scraping contact of said blade against said surface of said floor member during substantially all portions of said fioor movement.

2. The earth scraping means of claim 1 in which said opposite end of said arm and said second pivot axis thereat is situated forwardly of the bowl adjacent the lower part thereof.

3. The earth scraping means of claim 1 in which said 4 opposite end of said arm and said second pivot axis threat is situated rearwardly of the bowl adjacent the upper portion thereof.

4. In an earthmoving vehicle having a bowl for receiving and carrying earth wherein a bottom portion of said bowl is defined by a floor member which may be moved from a substantially horizontal earth supporting position to an inclined earth releasing position, said movement being a pivoting motion of said floor member about a first axis which is transverse to said bowl and spaced from said floor member, means for scraping earth from the upper surface of said floor member in the course of said movement thereof comprising:

a blade assembly disposed in said bowl adjacent said upper surface of said floor member and extending transversely with respect to the direction of movement thereof for scraping said surface as said floor member is pivoted about said first axis, and

at least one arm extending longitudinally within said bowl and having said blade attached to one end thereof and having an opposite end fastened to said bowl for pivoting movement about a second axis which is spaced apart from said first axis and parallel thereto whereby said blade assembly is restrained against traveling with said floor member in the course of said movement thereof but may shift toward said first axis and away therefrom as necessary to maintain contact with said surface of said floor member in the course of said movement thereof,

said blade assembly including two blades supported in spaced relation by a link which is pivotally connected to said one end of said arm at a point intermediate said two blades.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which one blade is disposed near an end of said floor member in its earth supporting position, and the other blade is disposed near the opposite end of said floor member in its earth releasing position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,179,532 11/1939 Walch 37126 2,330,113 9/1943 Daniels 37126 2,363,225 11/1944 Brown et al 37126 2,858,035 10/1958 Mettetal, Jr. 2l4767X 3,140,001 7/1964 Strader 2l4767X 3,229,835 1/1966 Watts 37l17.5 3,452,458 7/ 1969 Campbell et al 378 3,426,457 2/1969 Hancock et a1 37126X ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner E. H. EICKHOLT, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 37124, 8 

